Great scene between Nia and Lart. I'm glad he helped her out with the door code to where the Jedi are being held. I'm also watching with great interest the direction that Nia & Obi's relationship is going in.

The detective was sifting through a few new pieces of evidence. It was so little to go on. 2 new pieces to the story but it just didn't seem to be enough. The detective grabbed his hat and coat and headed out of the office only to come up on a mob yelling something...//cue chants...Gimpy, Gimpy...//

There were witness sightings that were coming in but it seemed every time Gimpy seemed to come out of hiding, she'd disappear again before anything could be confirmed. The only real lead was a scrap of paper on it in Gimpy's handwriting with a note that said something about this massive battle with some sort of evil test monster...The note said nothing about where that might be...

The detective shook his head and continued down the street pondering....The case of the missing Gimpy....

Heheh, I feel so popular! A mob *and* a second installment from Detective Rilian to add to the huge waiting party/mob in APTCH (do you remember that, Susie! Wowzers!)

Anywho, life is *much* better although I'm still fairly busy for the next two weeks. But that's okay, cuz I have a post and more on the way!

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Chapter 20

Nia glanced both ways before cautiously slipping down the corridor to the left. The weapons locker where the lightsabers would be kept was closer than the Jedi?s temporary prison and would take longer to get out, as well.

She paused before the solid door to the room. A closer, actually, that had been outfitted with shelves all the way around. If they had been careless this shouldn?t take very long. Nia held her breath and tapped in the old code, but the door to the weapon?s locker didn?t budge. Riyce was many things, but he wasn?t stupid.

Oh, well. Now for the hard way. A blaster bolt would sound the alarms, so instead she unclipped a hair clip and used it to pry up the edges of the panel covering the door?s circuitry. Resting the metal slab against the wall, Nia straightened and narrowed her eyes at the myriad of wires that had been exposed.

After a few seconds of consideration, she gently pulled out a few selective colors and twisted the ends together. The door slid open soundlessly.

With a victorious smirk pulling at the edges of her lips, Nia stepped inside. There was her regular blaster, resting inconspicuously to the right. She slipped the gun belt around her waist and cinched it in front, grateful for the reassuring feeling, before attaching the two Jedi?s sabers to the belt as well. She secured a few extra power packs for the blaster and checked both ways down the corridor before stepping back out again. A few more crossed wires shut the door again and then ripping the whole lot of them out again made sure it would stay that way. Replacing the panel finished the job and Nia took off at a jog for the Jedi?s prison, keeping her Force senses aware of any close presence.

But the halls were empty and still, almost strangely so. Aware of it only enough to be thankful, Nia keyed in the access code Lart had given her, pausing on the last digit as a wave of pain and cold hit her. She resisted the urge to curl into a protective ball, the alien feeling was outside herself and fading quickly. She breathed in raggedly and typed in the last number.

She stepped into the open doorway with hands on hips, an eyebrow raised at the shocked expressions Qui-Gon and Obi-Wans? faces. ?So are you guys coming or are you just going to stand there with your tongues hanging out of your mouth??

Obi-Wan?s dumbfounded expression spread in a slow smile as she tossed them their saber. ?How did this happen??

?How about I tell you after I finish saving you?? Nia countered.

?I can deal with that.?

The Jedi moved to join her but as Nia stepped into the outside corridor a warning flared in the back of her mind and she was pushing them back through the doorway. ?Back!?

A laser bolt ricocheted off the metal doorframe less than a foot from Nia?s head and left a smoldering hole in Obi-Wan?s Jedi robe close to his shoulder. The padawan grunted with surprise and pain. She pulled her head back as more shots hit the walls around the door, sending smoke and tiny pieces of plaster into the air. ?Obi-Wan, are you all right?? she asked urgently.

Obi-Wan nodded and spoke through clenched teeth. ?It just skimmed across the skin.? Already she could see the grimace on his face easing as he pushed the pain away with sheer willpower in order to concentrate on the manner at hand.

?Right, then.? Nia closed her eyes and tried to concentrate with the Force, but there were too many things going on to focus and all she received was a vague sense of what was going

Hey, Jenny the Jedi, would you please go back and edit your post? When you write too many letters with no space between them, that's the reason we all have to scroll back and forth to read the post. Thanks!

Hooray, Gimpy is free to write again! And what a post! I loved the way Obi-Wan got hit in the shoulder (yes, just have to mention that Obi-Torture first) and the way they were still able to fight even though they didn't have the Force. Poor Nia, though, feeling the deaths of those two people who meant so much to her.

That was an awesome post! Obi getting shot was a nice touch. And Nia saying: "Obi-Wan Kenobi, get your Jedi butt back in here this instant..." had me grinning

Poor Nia though, sensing the death of the people she cared about... I hope Obi can talk some sense into her, so she doesn't blame herself for what happened. Then they can all go and kick Riyce's butt!! But I'll leave the storytelling to you

I can't wait to see what happens next! Glad to know we won't hafta wait so long this time... hopefully. For me, still two more days until freedom!

Thanks, everybody!! And just because I love you all...another post! Gee, I don't think I've posted this close together since...I dunno...the beginning of the story!

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Chapter 21

When Nia came tiredly stumbling into the building?s lower level in the fading light of dusk the Jedi were waiting for her. The authorities had come and taken their notes and pictures, had left with their evidence, the bodies and promises to return later. The Jedi?s necks had matching red bands of chafed flesh, but even the soothing caress of Obi-Wan?s mind brushing against her own could not fully pierce through the utter, numb exhaustion. She allowed him to embrace her, to wrap his arms ? one with the sleeve torn off and a bandage wrapped around it ? around her shoulders and hold her close to his warm, comforting presence.

But even there Nia kept him at a distance, mechanically trying to push him to a safe boundary in her mind, as though the last ditch attempt would keep her safe from mortality itself. They would leave, she knew. Go back to Coruscant and their lives, leaving her to pick up the pieces that used to be hers. It was logical, so she prepared for it in advance so it wouldn?t hurt so much when it actually came.

?We?ve arranged for rooms at a hotel a few blocks down, so we won?t have to stay here,? Obi-Wan said softly as he carefully led her, dazedly non-resistant still, after Qui-Gon and back into the streets, where streetlights were flickering on one after another.

?It?s probably?best.? Her fingers tightened around his arm with the sudden clarity out here in the dark of how much she didn?t want him to go, how much she needed Obi-Wan there to support her like this, to make her laugh and cheer her up. Nia unconsciously drew on the Force to calm herself, to attempt to remove herself to that safe detachedness again and once more startlingly realized how much she?d been reaching out to that unseen power in the past week. That, too, would have to stop, was yet another thing she could not have.

Nia glanced up as they entered a small but clean and well-run hotel. While her mind had wandered her feet had been on autopilot and they were there already. Their ?suite? was made of three rooms ? the main room, with a large sleep couch, closet and holovid set, the small fresher, and the smaller bedroom with a single sleep couch and a dresser, obviously for her private use.

Nia perched on the edge of the sleep couch in the main room while Master Jinn made use of the fresher. She carefully calculated just how much energy it would require to stand, walk to the refresher and then to her bed. Too much, she decided.

The couch sagged slightly under Obi-Wan as he sat beside her. ?What will you do now?? she asked softly, without looking over.

She felt more than saw his shrug. ?Contact the Council. Find out if we should pursue Riyce or not, I suppose. Ask if you can return to the Temple with us.?

?What?? she glanced over at him as though he had grown two heads. ?You know I can?t.?

Obi-Wan frowned. ?Of course you can. You can train and focus your control of the Force.?

?Oh?? Nia bit of sarcastically. Her mind-numbing daze was wearing thin into frustration and it felt good to release the day's pent up anger. ?So what ? I show up at the Temple?s doorstep and ask to pick up where I left off fifteen years ago? Oh, yeah, I?m sure that will go over well.?

Obi-Wan had drawn back in surprised perplexity at her original outburst, but now his own stubbornness kicked in. ?Not like that! And even so ? why not? I?m sure the Council would agree to you strengthening your perceptiveness of the Force.?

?Why?? Nia stood abruptly and began to pace. ?So they can keep a close eye on me because as I am now I?m a dangerous, half-trained freak?! Well, gee, when you put it that way??

?It?s not that at all and you know it!? Obi-Wan jumped to face her, drawing in deep breaths as she felt him draw on the Force to calm himself. W